Lousy_Day

Happy Birthday Scooter!

Lol, I can see Suichiro building a whole gallery of fanart with these, although I generally don't like seeing hurt/dead/creepy children in art.

Yeah, life drawing is highly recommended if you want to learn the figure. I had a lot of fun when I had an annual membership at a local life drawing centre. They had two sessions everyday, and with an unlimited pass, you could go as many times as you wanted. But there was no instructior and everyone just did their own thing.

I am not sure if more structured life drawing classes are different and I hope they are, but what made me ultimately lose interest and stop going was the lighting that totally sucked. You need a good lighting for a good tonal drawing, because you learn to describe the form with shadows. They had at least 3 light sources coming from different directions with equal intensity. It was fine for quick gestures, but confusing and frustrating for longer poses.

The drawings by some of the regulars were amazing, but I guess they were mostly interested in drawing with lines, although there were a few painters and even a sculptor. I was more interested in learning value so I could learn to paint too. IMO, if you keep working with badly lit objects/figures when you are trying to learn value, it could do more harm than good.

Congrats Vex!

I was thinking it might be an issue with spacing too, but if it isn't, could you post an example of this patchy effect? Thanks Johnny for the tip on turning spacing off for blending. I don't use photoshop for painting anymore, but I will have to remember to try that if I start using it again.

You really did a wonderful job, Wassy! I think this is my favorite illustration of yours. I love the expressions on the poor animals. I sympathize with them but at the same time it is very funny. The only thing that looks a little off is she seems to be sitting very high on the chair, and her right thigh makes it look as if she is sitting on the edge of the desk. Actually I kept looking at it for some time, and I think another contributing factor is the black thread kinda defining the contour of her butt. I am not sure how it would impact the light area in the back, but I think it might add more to the piece if the chair looked more imposing and she was sitting lower, deeply buried in some sort of arrogant comfot.

Here's a list of some good free resources:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthre...f=199&t=259576

It is kinda old so some of the links are dead, most notably Loomis books. I hate to post this link for the third time, but if you want Loomis books, the currently working link is:

http://alexhays.com/loomis/

I really wish they'd reprint his books so I can have them on my shelf.

Conceptart.org that Clutch mentioned is great - you can find lots of amazing sketchbook threads in their forums.

As for specific instructions on getting started digitally, maybe someone else can help you. I think I lurked around different forums and artists web sites, and picked up bits and pieces from everywhere.

What initially introduced me to digital painting was speedpaintings by some people (and the art in TA's gallery. ) I wouldn't recommend going around doing speedpaintings, though. I always sucked at it, and now I can see that in order to pull off a successfull speedpainting, you need to have mastered or at least have some proficiency in form, value, the ability to simplify and efficiency of strokes. Without those foundations it is too easy to end up with just a mess of scribbles. Loomis books are perfect for building those foundations. Quite honestly, I think you will get used to working with a tablet in no time if you did some of the simpler excercises in Loomis books in photoshop, like composition using lines or tonal planning with few simple values. After that it's just a matter of learning to use the tools in photoshop like layers, free transformation, masks, etc.

You make a valid point, FD. I am aware myself that Robert Chang's portfolio is not the most impressive compared to some other artists. He himself has said it:

"I may not be the most amazing artist compared to some of the superstars out there, but I know I've got some serious teaching chops, and I have a knack for being able to explain very complex and esoteric subjects in ways that even the average person off the street will be able to fully grasp. I didn't spend more than a year on the course material for nothing--I aim to really shake things up!"

I try to think in terms of sports although I am not a big sports fan. How many coaches were the best athletes in their time? You could be an average player but still go on to become a great coach. The most skilled artist is not necessarily the best instructor, because it takes another set of skills to teach. Robert has other passions like music/writing/directing, so he would have been a lot better painter if he had totally focused on just art. But I think his wide range of interests will enable him to bring that much more to this workshop. I see him as the kind of guy with a vision and the rare ability to describe in words. He is known for his quality posts on CGTalk.

I will quote him some more, because, well, it is his workshop and only he knows what it is really about.

"Another unique aspect of the course is that it does not waste the students’ time and money by covering topics that already have many free or low-cost commercial resources available, and concentrates on mainly topics that do not have readily available resources, or covers popular topics with a new level of depth not seen elsewhere."

"The whole point of the workshop is to open your eyes and minds, show you creative concepts you have never been exposed to, analyze creative approaches in angles you've never considered, show you critical knowledge and techniques you can adopt into your own experience, and the end goal is to transform you from the inside out as an artist. You can't gauge how much someone has been transformed or the number of exciting revelations one had during the workshop with an assignment--it just doesn't work that way. Any instructor who tries to assess how "enlightened" a student has become with some kind of test assignment would be missing the point and going about it all wrong. My goal is not to pass or fail you--it's to elevate you and help you become someone who is fully capable to continuing your artistic journey with far more confidence, accelerated growth, and insights that otherwise would have taken you many years to acquire. The fact that this workshop contains insights on things I see many professional artists I have art directed get wrong on a daily basis, is a perfect example of the kind of workshop this is--it's about valuable insights that even being a professional won't guarantee you'll have (and this is often what separates art directors from those he directs).

I think it's likely that all of you will understand everything in the workshop, because I believe in my proven ability to explain even the most complex concepts to total beginners. What might happen for some of you is that although you have understood everything, you may not have the amount of experience/skills required to be able to execute those advanced concepts, but you will eventually be able to after having practiced more on your foundations. It's sort of like if we're in The Matrix and I uploaded all the knowledge you'd ever need to be a kung fu master, but since your body is not conditioned to be able to perform those moves yet, all that knowledge will stay in your heart and mind until you have conditioned your body to perform those moves. This workshop is like downloading kung fu secrets into your brain, but you have to practice your foundations in order to execute the moves."

I've thought long and hard before making my decision. I am not trying to convince anyone they should register, just letting people know it is available and what it is about, so if it is something that appeals to you and can afford it you won't miss it. I know these things don't automatically make you a better artist (my last big spending being attending a conference where I got to see Craig Mullins, Andrew Jones, and Syd Mead.) It inspired me to no end, but not much happened after because I didn't know what to do. What I am expecting from this workshop (and what it sounds like Robert is promising) is that you will be able to grasp concepts you couldn't quite understand or even weren't aware of before at the theoretical level. And by reflecting on your new knowledge, with intelligent approach and hard work, you will be able to improve much faster than you otherwise would on your own or with free and low-cost resources available.

Sure, you could buy a crapload of videos of someone painting something with the same money, and a lot of them are great. You can see their processes and how they do it. But they don't often go into why they are doing something, and you are left clueless as to what is going on in their mind at the subcontious level. Maybe you will learn to paint like them on the surface but find something lacking. I am searching for the why, the purpose, and I think this workshop will be a valuable map for me. Yeah, that's my goal, to design with purpose. I will leave with an Andrew Loomis quote:

"There is really design, either good or bad, whenever we put areas of variable tones together. It dawns on us as painters that the effect of the arrangement of such tone is really more important pictorially than the subject or the things we are painting."

Sorry Eddy. I imagine I will be skipping a few meals and CoH subscription will be my only entertainment spending for some time.

CR, this is the response from CGSociety:

"The classroom is accessible to students for quite sometime after the official end of the workshop so they can get back in. Regarding content, it’s virtually impossible to stop someone from copying the html and videos if they choose to."

So it sounds like you will be able to keep the material for personal use.

Hehe, another quote:

"If you have a day job or are going to school, you should still have enough time to do the assignments, as the assignments were designed with people who have day jobs or school in mind. You don't have to be online at a fixed time--the workshop is forum-based, with text and images and videos for the students to go through at their own pace, and then all interaction is done via the forum. Every week will have assignments, and I try to be flexible when designing the assignments. For example, if I ask for three different lighting variations of the same subject, you may only do two if you don't have enough time."

I think he also expects you to have a tablet even if it is a cheap one.

Some one had asked how the course material would be presented and this was his answer:

"The text & images portion will either be html pages or pdf. I'm leaning towards html since it allows flexibility in my updating minor changes, whereas pdf will require complete rewrite of the entire file every time I make a change. Also, I think html is a bit more bothersome for those who want to spread my material via pirate sites. PDF makes it almost too easy for them. (Why anyone would do that after spending $549 is beyond me.)

The videos are linked in the html pages in the order of viewing. You always go through the text & images portion first before you watch any of the videos."

It's not just videos, and Robert said the text portion will cover different topics than the videos. He didn't say if you can keep the videos or not, so I just pm'd him.

I thought this might be of an interest to some of the artists here. It is an 8 week course that starts on March 8th, but it is open for registration now and spaces are filling up fast. Just read the course outline and you know it is going to be amazing.

“While putting together the material for this workshop, I came to the realization that the entire course is essentially the absolute distillation of the most essential things I have ever learned as an artist to date, and if I could travel back in time and spend eight weeks with my younger self, these are the very things I’d want him to learn.”

He has been a studio art director, concept artist and texture artist in video games, a comic book artist, an animation writer/director, a storyboard artist, and an illustrator, and he is very confident in his ability to clearly explain even the most complex topics.

It is definitely not cheap at $549, but I think you can't put a monetary vaule on what you can gain from this workshop. At the same price, other workshops are usually about how to do this, how to do that. I believe what he has to offer will form the very foundations of every art you create, which is why I took the plunge and enrolled this morning. Another quote from his forum post:

"The truth is, I could've easily put together a workshop on some very easy but popular topic like "How to draw hot anime babes and awesome CG robots!" in a very short amount of time and then repeated it just to make money, but then I'd feel like **** doing it, knowing that what aspiring artists really need is not that kind of crap, but to really learn and grow as artists. I already knew the ROI on my workshop would be considered really bad business, but it was a labor of love, and when it comes to stuff I'm passionate about, any financial savvy goes right out the window. Spending more than a year of my life creating the course material definitely counts as "crazy" because I'm pretty sure I'm the only instructor in the history of CGWorkshop to have gone off the deep end like this."

Oh, and Robert Chang is the guy who did this famous digital painting.

Wow, congrats!!! They should give you another badge for having that many badges.

I once tried to get all the badges but gave up when they added Croatoa, because I had too many alts that I liked to play.

It almost slipped by me, but happy birthday!

Aww.....do CoH subscription commissions!

Good job Johnny! It is obvious that you have put in a lot of effort into the piece. I think this painting has a lot of potential, and offer following comments only to help identify what could be improved, and also to achieve your goal of being "more quick and loose in style".

I believe an effective painting should have a balance of contrast: Contrast between light and dark, soft and hard edges, saturated and muted colors, precise detail vs illusion of detail, etc. When I look at him, every area receives an equal amount of attention. There is light and shadow everywhere, but no real seperation of the two to indicate big forms. It is crucial to divide your painting into areas of light and areas of dark, and decide where you want the main focus to be. You won't be able to loosen up if you go putting in incidental details all areas. You can polish the main focus as much as you want, but don't be too concerned with detail in unimportant areas (usually in the shadows, which is why light and dark need to be separated instead of being treated equally.) I think looseness is really the ability to create an illusion of detail with minimum effort, and it will help if you have a clear idea of where you don't need a lot of detail.

Colors seem a bit dull as well, again, due to lack of contrast. Color is one of my weaknesses too, but I think adding more saturation to the edge where the light area meets the dark area (again, the need to seperate the two. can't emphasize this enough!) will add more life. Also, you mentioned sunlight shining upon him and giving him power, but the light doesn't seem to have a color. I think you have a real opportunity here to play with warm light vs cool shadows. I would also make the dark areas much darker for maximum impact, to show that there is a light breaking through darkness, and also to bring more attention to breaking of the chains. A direct sunlight usually has a pretty strong shadow anyway.

I posted this link in another thread, but I will put it up here too:

http://alexhays.com/loomis/

All of Adrew Loomis' books are amazing, but I think a good place for you to start will be part 2 on tone in Creative Illustrations. I am reading that section now too.

One last recommendation I have for you is to post it in Steven Stahlberg's paintover thread. Don't just ask him to make it better, but state your goals. Explain that there is sunlight shining on him and you want the value and color to show that. Also that you want to be loose and not get caught up with unimportant details and want to have a clear main focus area. When you have some free time, also go through his thread and study how he has overpainted other people's stuff.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, and good luck on your February entry!

Yeah, I guess it is best to keep things as simple as we can. But it sounds a bit odd that if you win in the 3rd last month, you automatically advance to the final month.

I just got a new idea about how immunity could work differently. What if you could save it till you actually needed it? You'd have to declare you are using it before voting starts for the month, because otherwise you could keep submitting mediocre work till you are actually voted out to throw the immunity card. You would also be allowed to hold on to only one immunity at a time.

A big potential problem I see is multiple people using it in the same month when we are only down to a few people. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea...how did immunity work in the last 2-3 months last year?

Thanks for all the votes! Good luck to all the contestants in February!

Mine was 'Wretched Love', featuring Ghost Widow and the Wretch. I still like the idea so I may do a personal painting some time, but not for this month.

Funny, I use Painter for the most part, and I wish it had the color system from Photoshop. The hue ring itself is ok, but I really, really, really hate the triangle. With the square system, you can independently control saturation and brightness, but removing a point and fitting the same info in a triangle skews the relationship in a non-scientific manner. Also changing saturation becomes harder as you move towards the top or the bottom because it gets narrower.

When working in Painter, you need to rely on your eyes to pick color, unless you use RGB sliders. The color system in Painter is based on a faulty triangle. Heck, Painter doesn't even have a parameter for Brightness, because Saturation and Value were arbitarily (and thus incorrectly) set to work with the (perfectly shaped but actually very deformed depending on hue) triangle. It is very unfortunate, because the triangle system could have been great if it had correct numbers behind it.

Maybe it will work better in Photoshop since it has a scientific system, but I would still voluntarily use the triangle only if the shape of the triangle changed for each hue to show the correct relationship between lightness and chroma. If it worked like that, I would actually prefer the traingle to the square, because it would allow you to pick colors based on saturation and brightness, and at the same time lets you see the value (L in photoshop) clearly.

http://www.huevaluechroma.com/082.php (look at the second image.)

I know I am not very articulate, but if what I am saying makes no sense at all, read through huevaluechroma.com. It revolutionized my understanding of color when I did.

I just knew it was going to be good when Clutch said he had put in 7 hours already two days ago. I was quite honestly scared to see what he would come up with, and it did not disappoint. Awesome job! Now everyone will have to step up a notch.

Just noticed....Pyro_Nympho has 666 posts...